


Rebirth

by CheshireChett



Category: Tangled: The Series (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Character Death, Death, Drowning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-06-09 00:42:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15255630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CheshireChett/pseuds/CheshireChett
Summary: Varian is chased by his bullies and falls into the bay, drowning.





	Rebirth

Varian’s heart beat rapidly, his breath ragged as he ran. He has to get away, as far away as he can. The taunting voices of his pursuers sounded from behind him. 

 

“Keep running, Quaid! There’s nowhere you can go where we can’t find you!”

 

“Why are you running anyway? You’re such a coward!” 

 

Varian shut his eyes and willed his legs to go faster. He needs to lose them. But how? He opened his eyes again and looked around at his passing surroundings. He spotted something promising. _There._ He turned sharply to the right and headed toward the cargo dock. He could weave between the containers and lose them that way. 

 

“Hey! Where do you think you’re going?!” 

 

Time to lose them. Varian banked left, turned right, then headed left again. He could hear his pursuers shout out in frustration. He huffed a laugh. It’s working. 

 

Suddenly, one of his pursuers jumped out in front of him. The smile he had instantly turned into shock, and he turned left again to avoid him. Another jumped out, and he turned right, skidding a little. He kept running between the containers. The shouts of his chasers sounded like they were getting closer. He has to get away. _He has to lose them._

 

His eyes widened as he skidded to a halt at the edge of the dock. He panted, looking over the edge into the dark waters below. Varian gulped. 

 

“Nowhere to run now, Quaid.” 

 

Varian spun around at the sound of the voice. The bullies had regrouped and were slowly gaining up on him. He held up his hands, ready to defend himself. He let out a nervous laugh. 

 

“H-hey guys! We could talk about this, right?” 

 

He took a small step back, glancing anxiously over at the water. 

 

“Oh, we’ll talk,” the leader, Adam, spat. “I’m sure my fists have a few things to say to you.” 

 

Varian nervously looked from person to person. All of them were getting ready to beat him. He hesitantly took another step back as they got closer. 

 

“Hehe, m-maybe your fist and I could talk…later? Maybe…never?”

 

Adam shook his head. 

 

“The two of you are going to talk _now._ ” 

 

He quickened his pace. Varian responded by taking another quick step back. 

 

“W-wait, that doesn’t have to-AH!” 

 

His foot missed the edge of the dock, and he felt himself fall backwards. Arms outstretched, hands searching for something to grab hold of. The threatening smile of the bully’s turned into shock as Varian plummeted down. Cold water met him a moment later, slapping his back hard before engulfing him for a moment. Panic struck through him. He pulled his head above the water, gasping. 

 

_This can’t be happening,_ Varian thought, _it can’t happen! I can’t swim!_

 

He coughed as water got into his mouth as he opened it to call for help. Waves crashed into him and pulled him down. His arms flailed as he struggled to resurface. The light from the dock was growing smaller. He thrashed around his arms, kicked his legs, trying everything he could to get back to the surface. Panic rose in his chest. His lungs screamed. He needs air. Every fibre of his being told him to breathe, but he knew if he did that, his lungs would be flooded. His head hurts. He needs to breathe. He can’t. Breathing out didn’t help any. His vision was starting to blur. He could feel his fight to hold his breath was being lost, and he was nowhere near the surface. The light had grown so small that his hope for breaking the surface had grown small as well. He couldn’t keep his eyes open anymore, and his fight was coming to a close. 

 

He breathed. 

 

He choked. 

 

Breathe. 

 

Choke. 

 

It hurts. It hurts so much. It hurts, and he can’t do anything about it. This was it. Lungs filled with water, vision going black, this is how his life ends. He wanted to cry, but that was hard to do since he was already surrounded by salt water. His heart thumped hard in his ears. Varian kept his eyes trained on the shrinking light, hoping, wishing, _praying_ that someone would come down and save him. 

 

Reluctantly, his eyes closed, and the water pulled him down further into the dark. 

 

 

“Do you see him?” 

 

Jake shook his head. 

 

“Nothing, dude.”

 

Adam frowned. It’s been five minutes. Why hasn’t the punk resurfaced?

 

“Should we call someone?” Hunter asked. “Maybe an ambulance? What if he’s drowning?”

 

“No,” Adam shook his head, “we’re not calling anyone. We could get in big trouble.”

 

“I don’t feel comfortable about this, Adam,” Jake said. “This is the _mayor’s_ kid. We can’t just leave him.” 

 

He pulled out his phone. 

 

“I’m calling 911.”

 

Adam attempted to snatch the phone out of his friend’s hand.

 

“Don’t!” he exclaimed. “We could _really_ get in trouble!”

 

“Not unless we change the story, we won’t,” Jake retorted. “We could just say we saw him fall in, and that’d be it.”

 

Adam turned this over in his head. He then nodded. 

 

“Ok.” 

 

Jake dialled the emergency number. 

 

Adam could hear the operator answer Jake’s call. 

 

“Hi, um, my friends and I saw a kid fall into the water by the cargo dock, and he hasn’t resurfaced in about five minutes.” 

 

The three boys were too focused on the call to notice the ring of blue light that burst from where Varian had fallen in. 

 

 

Authorities stood at the edge of the dock. A few had gone down into the water to look for the boy. Several civilians had stopped to speculate, asking around about what was happening. The officer on the surface clutched her radio com, waiting for the divers to find the kid the three boys had described. The com suddenly emitted static. 

 

“We found him. I repeat, we found the kid.” 

 

A few cheers sounded, and she sighed with relief. However, they’re not out of the woods yet. The kid had been under the water for quite some time, so the doctors will have their hands full with reviving him. Or, at least trying to. 

 

The divers broke the surface along with the limp body of…Varian Quaid?! 

 

The officer’s eye flew wide open. This is not good. This is _so_ not good. She doesn’t look forward to the call she’d have to make…and the press. The officer tucked her short, dark brown hair behind her ear and went to help the divers out of the water. The medics are already on standby as she helped pull Varian out of the water before turning to help the divers. Once the kid was on the dock, the medics immediately went to him and started checking for vital signs. The doctor jutted Varian’s head forward, causing his mouth to open. He looked in it before lowering his ear down towards the kid’s mouth. 

 

“He’s not breathing.” 

 

He pinched the teen’s nose shut and bent his head down until his mouth was over Varian’s. He breathed hard into it. He looked over to see the chest fall before going back to repeat this a few more times. The doctor then moved a hand to Varian’s wrist, two fingers pressing against it. He waited.

 

“He doesn’t have a pulse,” he announced. The officer’s breath caught in her throat. 

 

“Chorn, start pumping his chest.”

 

 

Quirin glanced up at the clock on the dining room wall. Where’s Varian? 

 

The caretaker popped her head in. 

 

“Mayor Quaid, sir?” 

 

He looked up at her. 

 

“Yes?” 

 

“Officer Byrd is on the phone. She wishes to speak with you.” 

 

This better not be about Varian. He nodded and stood up from his chair. He followed her back to the phone, picked it up and held it to his ear. 

 

“Mayor Quaid speaking,” he said gruffly. “How can I help you?”

 

“Mr Quaid, sir,” the officer on the other side started, “I’m calling you about…about Varian.”

 

Quirin sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. 

 

“I’ll be down at the station shortly-”

 

“Actually,” she cut him off, “you should head down to the hospital. It’s urgent.” 

 

His eyes widened. Knots twisted in his stomach as he hung up the phone and went to grab his keys. 

 

“Um, sir, should I-”

 

“No time.” He swung open the door leading to the garage and ran in. He opened the garage door and fumbled with the keys. He managed to unlock his car, get in, start the vehicle and go as fast as he could out of it. His heart pounded as he sped to the hospital. Once arrived, he parked as fast as he could before leaping out and running to the entrance. He burst into the hospital, startling pretty much everybody. 

 

“WHERE’S MY SON?!” he bellowed. One of the nurses quickly approached him. She looked at him solemnly. 

 

“Follow me,” she said. She turned and started walking down the hall. He followed her as instructed, his heart pounded. 

 

_Please don’t let this be it,_ he silently begged to whoever may be listening. _Please please please._

 

The nurse pushed through a door, turned right and stopped. She looked up at Quirin. 

 

“You may want to brace yourself.” She opened the door into the room. A doctor and a couple other nurses stood by a cot, a sheet over what he could only assume to be-

 

No. No, he can’t think like this. It can’t be true. He refuses to believe it. 

 

The doctor waited until Quirin was at the cot’s side before he pulled the sheet back. Quirin’s hand covered his mouth. Under the sheet, pale and soaked, was Varian. He couldn’t stop the tears from falling. His knees buckled as he leaned in to gather up his only son, hugging him tightly. His body shook with repressed sobs. 

 

“Come back,” he muttered. “Varian, come back. You can’t be dead. Varian, please, come back!”

 

His voice escalated as he begged his son to revive. The cries of his mourning went on for several minutes. The doctor and nurses bowed their heads, unwilling to watch their mayor grieve. When he finally calmed down, he laid Varian back down on the cot and pulled the sheet over his son. He took in a shaky breath. 

 

“I’d like to be alone and undisturbed,” he said. The doctor and nurses muttered “yes, sir”s before turning to leave the room.

 

A strangled gasp suddenly sounded from underneath the sheet. Everyone jumped, staring wide-eyed as the boy under the sheet arched his back, then sit up. Varian coughed up water onto the sheet, gripping his chest. 

 

“Varian!!” 

 

Quirin pulled him into a crushing hug. The doctor and nurses hurried back to the cot, baffled. They stared at him. He was alive, alright. But how?

 

“Dad,” Varian strangled out, “you’re crushing me.”

 

Quirin pulled away, wiping tears from his eyes. 

 

“Sorry,” he sniffed. “It’s just- you’re alive!” 

 

Varian raised an eyebrow. 

 

“What do you mean? Of course, I’m alive.”

 

“You weren’t a few seconds ago,” the doctor cut in. “You were dead.”

 

Varian shifted his gaze to the doctor. 

 

“Dead?” he breathed. He looked back to his dad. His mind raced, trying to gather his thoughts. He was dead? How? And how did he come back to life?

 

Almost immediately, images of what happened came flooding in. The bullies, the chase, the confrontation, the fall…the water. Varian’s eyes grew wide. He had to hold on to his dad to steady himself. 

 

“…I drowned,” he whispered. He looked up at his dad. “I drowned. I fell into the ocean and drowned. I couldn’t swim. Dad, I couldn’t swim. I couldn’t-”

 

Quirin pulled Varian into a less crushing hug. Tears poured down his cheeks as the memories replayed over and over again in his head. 

 

“I died. I drowned. I couldn’t swim.” was all Varian could say as Quirin held him. 

 

“It’s ok, son,” the mayor attempted to calm him, “you’re safe now. Everything’s gonna be alright.”


End file.
